Goosey Goosey Gander

You know, it’s funny. I’m continually surprised at the profound insights that can be found in the myths, legends, and simple stories of human history. Thoughts of such amazing spiritual depth are often costumed in a seemingly straightforward idea like a light-hearted child’s tale.

I ran across one such tale in my daughter’s nursery rhyme book just today. The beauty of it is that not only can I use it to teach my kids valuable faith lessons with an easy-to-remember rhyming jingle – which, in a nutshell, is really what faith is all about – but it moved me personally to see a new angle of God’s grace and love.

The old “nursery rhyme” goes like this:

Goosey, goosey gander,
Whither shall I wander?
Upstairs and downstairs
And in my lady’s chamber.
There I met an old man
Who would not say his prayers.
I took him by the left leg
And threw him down the stairs.

Like all good teachings of faith, this leads to more questions than it does answers; then, it turns right around and gives you quick, easy answers to all of those questions. Amen?

This man of faith begins with “Goosey, goosey, gander.” He is obviously a gleeful and fun-loving guy; and in the very next line is seeking God’s direction for his life. “Upstairs to the heavenly realms?”, he prays. Or “Downstairs in the dungeon of heaven, the worldly earth, the planet that is void of God’s Truth?”

The next line, ‘And in my lady’s chamber,’ is an obvious reference to 1 Corinthians 7. Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

So clearly, any fool can see this is a Godly man seeking his wife’s “chamber” if ya know what I mean. Nothing wrong with a little bit of holy mess around, amen?

But then what happens? ‘There I met an old man.’ Enters the Devil and his wicked schemes. Some guy, some, ‘dude’ is lurking in the room of the wife of our upright friend.

Now, there is little doubt about what this guy is up to and if you aren’t convinced yet, check out the next line: ‘Who would not say his prayers’ BOOM! There you go! This hell’s-angel stranger vehemently refuses to initiate a personal relationship with the Almighty. We all know these wicked headstrong types and they aren’t going to wise up are they? They aren’t going to come around to God’s way of thinking given enough time and patience are they?

Our wise hero knows this. So he does the only thing he can do. He grabs the wretched offender and hurls him rolling down the stairs; head thumping like a coconut, bones splintering and snapping along the way, coming to rest only in death at the stair’s bottom in a lifeless bloody heap.

Now to our modern sensibilities, this action will seem a little harsh, but don’t forget this room-prancing abomination WOULD NOT SAY HIS PRAYERS. Is there too harsh a punishment for such a refusal?

I am not sure how our leading man knows that the intruder wouldn’t pray. I suppose God revealed it to him, because who upon finding another guy in his lady’s chamber asks the guy to pray? No one would do that. Maybe he just assumed the guy was prayerless, but in any case, I’d say it’s a safe bet considering the unbeliever’s intentions with another man’s wife. These kinds of sinners don’t pray and if they do they don’t do it correctly with affirmation seeking amens along the way.

I am sure you’ll agree that this is a most lesson-hearty fable. Little did I know that I would be awakened to such an insight by a seemingly shallow book of nursery rhymes. And it comforts and assures me to know that my children will take this story with them along life’s journey and with greater understanding, unpacking it’s richness further and further as they go about their way.

Amen and God Bless America.